Singapore GP – Free Practice 2 Results: 12th

Building on the solid work from the earlier session, Free Practice 2 saw both Lotus F1 Team drivers put the E20 through its paces over a variety of long runs; race simulations, rubber analysis and pit-stop practice all included in a packed schedule as the team continued preparations for the weekend ahead.

Summary:

No sign of the day’s earlier showers as darkness descended for Free Practice 2 this evening in Singapore; dry tarmac and ever-intensifying heat providing a different form of challenge for the drivers under the bright lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

The session took its customary Friday format of race simulation runs, data analysis and setup changes, with a few practice pit-stops and track time with both the yellow marked soft and red marked super-soft Pirelli tyres thrown into the mix.

Both Kimi and Romain flirted with the upper echelons of the order in the mid stages while setting about their work in typically relentless fashion; the pair putting in fast and consistent times respective to their programme for the evening and posting laps on the fringes of the top ten as the day’s action came to a close.

Minor interruptions came in the form of scattered yellow flags as drivers experimented with the limits of grip on a very green surface, in addition to a brief stoppage as Bruno Senna’s Williams collided with the wall to bring out the red flags.

Kimi Raikkonen – 12th: “It wasn’t the easiest of days for us today. We don’t have enough grip for some reason, and we seem to be lacking downforce. It’s the same on both tyres ; a little bit better when the tyres are new, but still not quite the pace we want. I think we can improve for tomorrow but we have to find two seconds to get to the front. I don’t think we’ll find that much time ; but I think we should improve from Friday as we usually do.”

Romain Grosjean – 10th: “It feels good to be back on track. Our position on the time sheets in the morning was not what we’d have liked and even after FP2 we know there is more performance to be found. The car is basically the same as what we ran in Monaco and Budapest where we were very competitive but we’ve struggled a bit for grip today. The good thing is we understand what we need to do, the team has been working hard to make improvements and I’m sure we’ll be stronger tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We didn’t learn too much in the first session, but we did get some quick laps on the intermediate tyres. In the second session we evaluated the two tyre compounds, completing long runs on both. There’s quite a bit of single lap pace difference between the two of them. It’s fairly clear which tyre will be the preferred one for qualifying but not so clear at the moment which tyre is the better prospect for the race. We’ll be looking closely at lap times and degradation levels overnight.”